Long legs stretch out, widening the stride, pushing him faster, further with every step. The burning in his thighs was a welcome distraction to the babble of voices running through his head, recounting the last few days stress.

Reports, deadlines, completion dates, why did they always sneak up.

University was not what Ichigo thought it was going to be. His pre –med courses were interesting but he felt there was something missing from the experience. His attention was grabbed by a loud noise to one side of the tarmac strip he ran down. He slowed, giving his lungs a break. Stretching his fingers out, he then wiped them onto his black shorts, removing the moisture that had gravitated there.

Off to the side of the expanse of the park was a caged off rectangle of concrete with two high basketball hoops on poles. Ichigo registered the loud noise to be coming from the four tall men scrabbling for the orange ball. One in particular was standing out, tall, with a shock of blue hair and a manic grin on his face; he was currently in possession of the ball and was doing his best to keep it. Blocking him was an extremely tall black haired man. Ichigo drifted over towards the court, watching the men battle back and forth. The blunette lost control to a shorter man with dark hair and bright green eyes, who snatched the ball when he was distracted by the scarily thin tall man and was streaking to the opposite basket. The last man, one who seemed to not be that interested in the game made a move towards the opponent but was too slow. He shrugged as the ball went through the hoop and he sleepily kicked at a stone near his foot.

"Stark, for God's sake will you wake up and cover Ulquiorra? I'm getting my ass handed to me and you don't seem to give a shit!" The blue haired man vented his frustrations, running his hands through his oddly coloured hair. Ichigo didn't recognise any of them, and they all would have certainly stood out in his course. Every pre – med student blended. They were all so normal, so vanilla as Shinji called them. His outrageous friend was studying psychology, a course filled with exotic, interesting people, unlike his.

"Well Grimm, I am not interested in your ass, or in this game. I have important studying to do, I'm sure you will do just fine in the second half." With that the tall brunette slumped off the court.

iiiiiii

Grimmjow growled softly as his ex-team mate walked away slowly. He couldn't believe he was going to have to forfeit the game. Unfair, echoed through his head, he didn't even want the tall gangly prick on his team. He just had to beat the pale idiot for once.

"It's your turn Grimmjow."

"Fuck off, I didn't even make any of the mess, you're the one that can't make ramen without dirtying the whole kitchen!" Grimmjow couldn't believe he was having this kind of argument. When he agreed to live with the green eyed twerp he didn't think he was agreeing to marry the bugger. It was bad enough that Ulquiorra brought home a different girl every month to sit and quote that emo shit in his living room but he didn't have to clean up after them.

"Regardless of who made the mess it was agreed by you that we rotated chores, and the kitchen is your turn. Need I remind you that I do not enjoy pulling your blue hair out of the plug hole but I still do it when it is my turn?"

"Tch, your long ass girly hair makes more mess than I do."

The argument culminated in a bet being made, no chores for a month for the winner, loser picking up the slack. Best part, it was Grimmjow's turn to name the competition, the previous bet (for a girl's attention) had him playing some shit flight computer game that the little gamer was freakishly good at.

Not that Grimmjow had anything against computer games, he was a man, and a student, it was part of the job description but he preferred to shoot some shit, slaughter zombies or something.

So basketball had been the chosen challenge, with Grimmjow's height, 6"2, over half a foot taller than the challenger, he thought it would be easy to beat the clearly less athletic man but the shorter man has proven to be ultra-fast and very annoyingly, has chosen a mutual friend who topped Grimmjow's height, negating his one strength.

"So is the game over or shall we see how badly we can thrash him?" Nnoitra grinned his characteristic smile at Grimmjow, enjoying the situation immensely.

"That is up to him Nnoitra, well Grimmjow? Are we continuing two on one?" Ulquiorra's gaze drilled into Grimmjow rankling him.

Grimmjow scowled and looked away. Catching his attention was a tall figure at the other side of the fence. He quickly took in the long tanned legs only slightly covered by short black running shorts. The torso was slim and covered by a long sleeved black and red top that was skin tight. Topping the look was a mess of bright orange hair flopping into his eyes, only partially obscuring a scowl across his face.

Mmmmmmm was all his mind could think at first.

"Hold that thought Kiora," and he jogged over to the fence. He hung his fingers in the links of the fence and leaned his face near the stranger. "Hey, you busy?"

The scowl deepened for a second, distrust evident in the chocolate coloured eyes. "Why?"

Grimmjow smirked at the query. "Can you play ball?" A matching smirk answered the question.

Grimmjow had to keep pulling his attention away from the kid's ass as he dodged and leaped round his opponent. The younger man was fast, and had amazing reach, stealing the ball out of the air and passing it back to the blunette like lightning. Even the quick little green eyed twerp couldn't keep up with him. The kid could turn on a dime. Nnoitra was clearly becoming more and more annoyed at the way this was going. First to 10 had been an easy win in his eyes until the orange haired stranger joined Grimmjow's team. Now at 8-6 Nnoitra could see him suffering defeat at the hands of the blue haired brute and a snot nosed teenager!

9-6 a second later made Grimmjow's smirk become an all-out grin as Nniotra moved to collect the ball under the net. Grimmjow saw the kid move to cover Ulquiorra. As the ball was passed, he saw the young man leap and catch the ball with his fingertips, landing in a crouch he pivoted, looking for an opening to pass it. Grimmjow tensed and pumped his legs towards his hoop. The kid saw him and chest passed the ball. Grimmjow caught the ball but was quickly body checked by his long thin opponent who appeared out of nowhere. He hit the concrete hard, winding himself and watched through slightly watering eyes as the score went 9-7. His vision was obscured by a body kneeling down on front of him.

"You ok man?" The kid's eyes were full of concern and he had a hand on Grimmjow's side, the other held out like he wanted to touch his face.

"Yeah kid, I'm alright." He made a move to get up and was surprised to find the kid helping him with surprising strength that belied his slight frame. One he was upright again the kid let his hands drop to the side. "We have to win this." The kid cocked an eyebrow at the venom in his voice.

"Wasn't that the plan all along?" Grimmjow was shocked when the cocky kid winked at him and rushed to grab the ball.

Grimmjow stood halfway, ready to receive the ball, Nnoitra standing just in front and off to the left of him. The kid looked straight into his eyes and flicked his gaze to the right. Grimmjow clenched his jaw and nodded slightly in understanding. As the kid feinted then tossed the ball into thin air Grimmjow was already moving towards it. The orange haired kid raced down the court, taking the aggressive for the first time and turned in time to snatch the ball out of the air. Landing lightly on his feet he immediately pushed back up and lightly floated the ball through the hoop, not touching the metal.

Grimmjow's roar of delight startled the birds out of the nearby trees. He rushed up and grabbed the kid in a crushing bear hug. Ulquiorra looked even more depressed than usual, Nnoitra already picking up his belongings and storming off in a huff. Grimmjow put the kid down upon his feet and pounded him on the back. The kid visibly winced at the rough treatment, making Grimmjow back off. He didn't want to break his new friend.

"Thanks kid. I owe you big time."

"My name's Ichigo, not kid."

Grimmjow grinned widely. "Alright berry, I owe you." He smirked at the immediate scowl on the others face.

"And what do I call you? Blueberry?" The kid, Ichigo, squared on him, looking slightly up into his eyes.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaques. Nice to meet you." Ichigo shook his head smiling lightly.